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[Gilla999]

Not something I've ever had to worry about before    but I'm curious to know if anyone through experimenting with their HRT has felt at any point that their Estrogen was too high and if so what your symptoms were (and if they improved when you reduced).

Thanks!

[Floradora]

Hi Gilla999. Yes definitely had symptoms of too high estrogen while on a 2mg dose a few years ago.  Main symptoms were extreme nausea, bloating, headaches, breakthrough bleeding and feeling very jittery and hyper. All side effects disappeared almost immediately when switching to a 1mg dose. For me, a lower dose was definitely better. 

[Amazing grace]

Hi, over the last almost 5 years I've been up and down the doses of patches and gel, I was always confused about the too high/too low on hrt as symptoms are very similar and I never seemed to feel good, but through going up several times I've actually found that too much estrogen for me causes, terrible constant headaches, stiff tense muscles mostly in the neck and shoulders , insomnia, anxiety in the form of a horrible jittery shaky feeling, swollen sore boobs, hot sweats, and nausea when I've lowered the dose those symptoms fade away within a couple of weeks, and I use estrogen only due to hysterectomy so no progesterone causing any side effects x

[Kathleen]

Hello Gilla999

I am conducting this experiment at the moment!

When I was using three sachets of Sandrena  (approximately six pumps of Oestrogel) I had increasingly sore breasts and then some spotting which progressed to full on bleeding. At the same time my moods were very changeable ranging from normal to calm to jittery and tearful. After the bleeding I reduced the sachets to two and a half and all breast tenderness and spotting etc  resolved.  In the past two weeks I have reduced further to two sachets and my moods are still up and down but I have yet to have a return of flushes,  night sweats or any other physical symptoms.

Apparently too much Oestrogen can cause mood swings, anxiety and panic attacks and  I hope that my reduced dose will deal with these. I am a long way post meno so perhaps even two sachets are too much and I need to reduce further. A friend of mine is a similar age and doing well on one pump of gel which is the equivalent to half a sachet of Sandrena so I may have a way to go yet.  An NHS consultant I spoke to about eighteen months ago said that for many women 'Less is more' when it came to HRT and it is this belief that is keeping me going at the moment. I have also been on an AD for years but I don't think this has made much difference.

I hope this helps in some way and wishing you well.

K.

[Postmeno3]

Can you help me understand what you want to find out if this doesn't apply to you, Gilla999, if I've got this right? Am confused! 🤔

[Gilla999]

Thanks ladies, that's all very useful to know and very interesting to hear...

Postmeno I probably didnt phrase it very well - I've not had to worry about it until now. Since November I've been on a bit of a roller coaster - my own E initially plummeted and after realising via a blood test I increased ny HRT to compensate and was fine for a month or so. But in the last few weeks I've been suffering with progressively worsening symptoms and I can't work out why. It's not my normal symptom pattern of too low E - it's all jittery and histamine based (i'm suffering from severe allergy symptoms that started more mildly in Dec, so not hayfever), palpitations and racing heart, disrupted sleep - it's like adrenaline / histamine surges. I had wondered if perhaps I had over compensated too much, but I'm also recovering from covid 3 weeks ago (though some of the problems started before then) so I feel quite mixed up, it's so hard to know! I'm not keen to change things willy nilly so was curious to hear what others "too high" symptoms were to see if any of it resonated 

[Kathleen]

Hello again Gilla999

Someone on the forum suggested Googling the effects of high Oestrogen which I did and the information about mood swings, anxiety and panic came up. Another MM member posted a reply from Dr Currie who said something similar. Quite how low and high oestrogen can cause the same response is a mystery but it does happen apparently.

I certainly recognise the jitters and surges that you describe. It's a horrible feeling and you have my sympathy.

I haven't had COVID as far as I can tell and I don't have any allergies so for me I think hormones are the culprit.

Hopefully other ladies will be along to add their stories to the mix. We hear so much about low oestrogen but it appears that high oestrogen is just as problematic for some of us.

Wishing you well.

K.

[VictoryV]

I quickly went into a very low, dark place which stopped as soon as I cut right back to 2 pumps for 5 days. I didn’t get anxiety, flushes etc.

[Gilla999]

Thanks V, hope you're doing well at the moment? xx

Kathleen thank you that's really useful info and interesting to hear that it can't be Covid related for you. The trouble is blood tests are useful but it really depends on what your optimum amount of Estrogen is and that can take time discover and isn't a fixed thing (until you're post meno) so it feels a bit like a constant battle to get the level right. It's also difficult when you have multiple things going on like Covid. I know for certain that one of the primary symptoms of this started back in November though so it can't ALL be Covid, but perhaps with the immune response of Covid it just turned the volume up to 10.

I really appreciate everyone's replies to this, it was very useful xx

[Kathleen]

Hello again Gilla999.

I thought I'd add that I am post meno so my own hormones would not be fluctuating in the background but my surges etc definitely feel chemical if that makes sense.

Wishing you well.

K.

[Evie606]

Hi,

I experienced this recently, was on 3 sprays of Lenzetto but feeling terrible.
Test confirmed estrogen was too high at 974 and SHBG was over range. I went down to 2 sprays.
Had some wobbles for around a week-10 days but now a month later I am much calmer, feeling better and sweats and panic have gone. Also, shock & horror my non existent libido has shown signs of life.
My SHBG is now in range too.

 

[Postmeno3]

Less is more? 😉

[Gilla999]

That's really interesting Evie because I'm currently on 3 sprays Lenzetto having increased from 2 when I needed it in Jan (my E had dropped to 350 which is v low for me). Still waiting for my naffing blood test result back so will be interesting to see what it is. I do need to be on the higher side of an E level because it was always even naturally on the high side, but that aside I do wonder if 3 sprays of Lenzetto is too much for me - difficult to know when symptoms of low vs high can be similar!! Thanks everyone for your input, really appreciate it x

[Evie606]

Gilla, initially my consultant said to drop to 3 sprays one day and 2 the next which might be an option for you if you’re a little too high with E but need to keep it at the upper level.

Hope you get your blood results soon. X

[Gilla999]

That's a good idea Evie, thank you! Xx